July unemployment rate 6.2%, unchanged from June

Florida's unemployment rate in July remained unchanged from June's 6.2 percent as job creation throughout the state cooled, officials said Friday.

Over the month, the state lost 1,600 jobs, a decrease of less than 0.1 percent. That's a marked change from June, when Florida racked up more than 37,000 new jobs.

In Metro Orlando, the jobless rate rose from 5.9 percent in June to 6.4 percent in July. Locally, the total number of jobs fell slightly — by about 1,800 — and the number of people reporting that they were unemployed rose by about 5,500.

Metro-area numbers, however, can change dramatically from one month to the next and aren't adjusted to account for seasonal changes in employment levels. Consequently, economists view them cautiously.

More important are the year-over-year figures, and those show that unemployment in Metro Orlando has fallen from 7.2 percent to 6.3 percent. Over the year, Orlando added 33,200 jobs, second only to Miami, which gained 36,400 jobs.

Gov. Rick Scott made no mention of the state's net job loss in a statement released Friday morning. Instead, Scott focused on the 2,100 private-sector jobs gained in July.

"Every new job positively impacts a family," Scott said. "And today's announcement is more great news for Florida families looking to live the American Dream in the Sunshine State."

Scott, who has tied his re-election bid to the health of the labor market, pointed out that Florida has added more than 620,000 private-sector jobs since December 2010, the month before his inauguration. During that period, statewide unemployment has dropped 4.9 percentage points, from 11.1 percent to 6.2 percent.

Florida's labor-market recovery closely mirrors the national recovery, though the state's job growth has been more robust. During the past year, the total number of jobs in Florida grew by 2.7 percent. Nationally, they grew by 1.9 percent. The national jobless rate is also 6.2 percent.